Last Dinner in Auckland

After a full day on Waiheke Island with the Bickerton clan, I looked for a nice place to have a dinner on the harbor. This harbor area is designed much like Baltimore's Inner Harbor with shops, restaurants and tourist museums all around the marina. I found a nice place called Wildfire which appeared to be in the Hilton as it was in the same building. All I was thinking here was POINTS!

The restaurant specialized the the Brazilian type of meat dinner for $45 per person. I was not that

hungry so I settled on pumpkin and walnut ravioli in a pomodoro sauce and a glass of wine. The meal was not a disappointment either. I overlooked the Maritime Museum with a large collection of sailboats in the harbor and inside the building. The family next to me had the Brazilian dinner and I watched various meat in large skewers go by every so often. it looked and smelled very good. Someday I'll have to try that.



The harbor in Auckland looks to handle many different activities from the ferries that handle commuters, casual sailboat tours, very large America's Cup type sailboats, industrial shipping and tourism. It is busy there from the early hours of the day to the late sunset diners overlooking hundreds of beautiful sailboats.

I tried some creative photos of the Ferry Terminal Building at night. The camera was able to capture the moving cars and buses moving in front of the building as ghostly figures with the restored Terminal in the back.

Maritime Museum

Since I had a bit of time this afternoon, I did some last minute Christmas shopping and found some fun things to bring home.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Our bus driver stopped so we could take some photos - This is an iPhone pic.

I can't believe I only have  5 days left and I am still on the South Island. Today I will take a bus, to
the trans-alpine train. The train goes through what they call the Southern Alps. Someone told me to get a seat on the left side for some good photos. I guess they will be action shots since the train will not stop for Robin to take pictures of mountains!

I have two huge bruises, one on my knee and the other on my hip from sliding on the glacier yesterday - ouch.










Before the train we had a 3 hour bus ride through some flat areas near the Tasman Ocean. When we stopped at a roadside cafe I selected carrot cake and an orange mango juice by Tropicana.

The possum sign with right outside the cafe. Not sure there is a connection there.

We took a lunch break at this seaside town Hokitika. The beach was grey and filled with sculptures of driftwood, including this town sign.

The train station is so small! If you live in Chester County, picture the old Pocopson Train Station. The station at Christchurch is not much larger either. The ride was through some beautiful countrysides and mountain areas. The higher peaks have snow already on the top and the rivers are pure aqua color. I noticed this early on, then as we passed through glacier country the water was grey from mountain sediment under the glacier.The train arrived in Christchurch at 6:05 and my ride was there to greet me! This was the first time I have ever had a sign for a shuttle ride!Dinner was at the Chateau on the Park in Christchurch. Main dish was scallops with baby lettuce, and a relish of corn, kiwi, red pepper, mango and something spicy. It was very good. I noticed some pink portions attached to the scallop and tasted it. Not a specific flavor, but since I didn't know what it was, I cut it off and didn't eat it. That was the roe and considered a delicacy.

Dessert, below was a toffee, with hazelnut ice cream, raspberry, and chantilly cream. Outstanding!

The big adventure of the day came in my hotel room when I could not get my large suitcase open. I used the same code to open it for 2 weeks but I would not open tonight. All of my clothing, passport and important papers for tomorrow's flight are in there! So I roll it down to the front desk for some help and the porter had some clippers - gigantic clippers and cut off the zipper tabs so I could get in. Now I have sharp edge zip tabs and no lock on my suitcase. Oh well, whatever.

We passed many farms of deer (they are not wild here), cattle, and sheep. Along the side I saw a flock of pukeko running around. I saw others, but they were in pairs. It is rather odd to see blue birds with the red beak running like a large chicken with long legs.

Tomorrow, Sunday May 3, a short flight from Christchurch to Rotoura for 2 nights. More cool adventures await!

Monday in Dunedin

Dunedin is named after Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a 4 hour bus ride across the South Island with several stops. The first stop was at a small side of the road fruit stand that had public rest rooms, fruit, nuts and dried fruit selections. I picked an apple, and it was delicious and juicy. We made 2 other stops for rest rooms as well. The bad news here is that my internet was not working, so therefore Google maps was not available and I didn’t know how to find my hotel. Fortunately I took a screen shot of the reservation and street name. I asked the fellow next to me on the bus and he could no get my internet working either – I am going to be lost without it. But he did know where the street was and pointed me to Cumberland St. Except I walked 10 blocks dragging my small suitcase and my 20lb backpack of camera goodies.

I passed some cool places like the University of Ontago, a museum that has a butterfly exhibit and aviary. Many places were closed because of ANZAC Day holiday. You may have seen this remembrance on tv involving honoring soldiers from New Zealand, Australia at Gallipoli. It is much like our Veteran’s Day. I turned around and walked back toward the bus stop and could see the hotel a block from my original point. I did get lots of steps registered on my FitBit however.

Across the street is a factory tour. View the photos and see if you can guess where I am.

If you didn't guess Cadbury, then look closely at these 2 cars. These two antique cars were actually used by the company to deliver chocolate at the turn of the century. The products produced here are for New Zealand and Australia consumption. Of course I had to purchase my favorite, Cadbury fingers!

Now I am starving since I didn’t really eat breakfast except for 2 granola bars and an apple. I found several restaurants open at the Octogon (center of town) and take a chance on Angus sliders with pear chutney with a side of local beer. Nice choice and I am delighted and full.

It has rained all day, I want to get everything ready for the nature adventure tomorrow. So back to the room and plan. I had to pay for internet usage and my phone is wonky. Not sure what is going on there. I really depend on it for directions.

This hotel actually has better tv than Rees in Queenstown.

Wildlife adventures tomorrow in Dunedin!

Saturday Evening in QT

Seems like this day will not end. I got a message from three of my travel friends to join them for dinner. How nice that Curtis has a car and we don't have to be on a bus again! Since Curtis lives here now (originally from Texas and is Trey's trip coordinator) he knew all the right places to go in the evening. The town is packed and we slip in to a parking spot across from a Hostel. Never been to one and it was quite crowded and noisy. This is an adventure location so I can see why so many people are in this place.

Our first stop was The Cow and old sheep shearing shed made of some local slate like building materials.  We shared a table with 2 people from Denmark and had fantastic garlic bread, a mess of veggies on a pizza in this quaint building. I was a cross between the bar in the Indiana Jones movie with Karen Black that burnt to the ground at the start of the movie and small English Pub. Jackie Evans you would have fit in just right here! It was so dark I didn't really know what I was eating on the pizza. No matter,it was great.

Sorry these are a bit dark and smuggy but the light was low and these are from my iPhone. Smooth wine, pizza and delicious garlic bread. I could see the chef paint garlic butter with chopped garlic over the top then sprinkle with parsley. I will do this at home for sure.

This beer bottle looked huge! It was only 17 ounces but seemed so much larger. This location was the Eichart Hotel, which is the oldest and most expensive hotel in QT. Located right on the lake it only has 10 elegantly designed rooms for rent.

We returned back to the Reese Hotel around 10:00, which was early for this week!

Last Day Dinner

Trey and his wife Tina and 3 children hosted this group for a special finale dinner. He has a separate little cottage as his work studio about 30 yards away from his home. It is landscaped perfectly. The lane down to his home is so narrow and tree covered that our bus is having a bit of struggle getting to the end.

His home has huge glass windows and doors to take full advantage of the view of the Remarkables (mountains) and the valley. The dinner is catered and we are greeted by Tina and a glass of champagne. There are conversations all over and outside as well. He has heat lams on the deck to keep us warm, but honestly the temperature is perfectly cool. The servers stroll  about with appetizers like salmon, macaroons with goat cheese and outstanding scallops.

Dessert is a plate of delicious with small cheesecake bites and raspberry sorbet to compliment. There were several small speeches to compliment the chef and Trey and Tina.

Overall I would say this was an expensive adventure, but so worth it. I saw some breathtaking scenery, met some people I would like to visit again and learned from a world master, Trey Ratcliff. I learned so much about lighting, composition and of course the biggest take away was learning his technique to create HDR photos. I have only completed a few, but I will post them.